The Archer is a Girlhttps://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com
One girl's journey in competitive archery
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1 http://wordpress.com/https://s0.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngThe Archer is a Girlhttps://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com
Some Changes At The Archer is a Girlhttps://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/03/13/some-changes-at-the-archer-is-a-girl/
https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/03/13/some-changes-at-the-archer-is-a-girl/#respondMon, 14 Mar 2016 00:06:20 +0000http://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/?p=423Some big changes are coming to The Archer is a Girl. The more I talk with people, the more I realize there is a gaping hole in information for archers, especially recurve archers, when it comes to books, gear, apps, and general training and coaching information. When we decide to buy our next book or our next car, most of us tend to hit the internet these days and look for reviews and other people’s experiences with that item before we purchase it ourselves.

And yet, for a lot of archery gear, those reviews, especially trusted reviews, don’t exist. Want to buy a book on archery to learn more about technique and form? Which one do you buy and is the information in it any good? What if you’re looking for your next riser, or plunger, or sight? You can occasionally find reviews of the product on a website where you could purchase it, but you don’t find anything in depth, from someone whose used it and put it through its paces. What about that cool scoring app you found on Google Play? Does it really work? Is it worth your time?

These are some of the frustrations I’ve run in to as I go to buy gear, or consider paying for an app. And the more archers I talk with, the more I realize they experience the same frustration. So I have decided that I will take on this challenge, that instead of bemoaning the lack of information I will provide that information for you guys as well as continuing to blog about my own archery journey.

What can you expect from the new The Archer is a Girl? The first thing you can expect is a new layout. Coming soon we’ll have a smoother interface design so that the front page features the most recent articles, but also categorizes them by type. Looking for app reviews? They’ll all be in one place.

The next thing you can expect is fewer, but more in depth, posts. Right now I have scheduled one app review, one gear review, and one book review per month. I feel it’s all my schedule can handle. On top of that you’ll still find opinion pieces on what’s going on in archery now or what’s going on in my own archery journey as well as tournament updates.

What if there’s a piece of gear you’re considering buying and want to find a review on? Drop me a line and let me know. If someone in my circle has that piece of gear, we’ll get a review for you as soon as possible. If not, then I’ll move it to the top of my priority list to get my hands on it and review it for you.

I’m not a super professional archer. While that’s my goal, I’m just one of you guys, in the trenches, trying to make decisions about gear as my skill level increases and my ability to perform at larger tournaments catches up with my desire to attend them. You won’t be hearing any manufacturer approved press, as I’m not sponsored by anyone. I am part of Team Fulcrum, but they’re a bow shop, not a manufacturer. So I may tell you that you can buy a piece of gear from Fulcrum Archery! But I’ll never tell you to buy a piece of gear just because the manufacturer sponsors me.

So that’s what’s new and upcoming at The Girl is an Archer. I hope you’ll find that it fits the need I see within our archery community. And if it doesn’t, I hope you’ll tell me that, too.

]]>https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/03/13/some-changes-at-the-archer-is-a-girl/feed/0thatgirlkestrelShouldn’t You be Training?https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/03/10/shouldnt-you-be-training/
https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/03/10/shouldnt-you-be-training/#respondFri, 11 Mar 2016 00:06:52 +0000http://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/?p=421It’s the week after Indoor Nationals. Outdoor season has officially started. And I haven’t shot my bow since Sunday.

I came home from Nationals feeling pretty good. Until I woke up Monday morning with a throat so sore swallowing made me want to cry. I chalked it up to a cold. It would be gone in a day. It’s Thursday now. My head is still stuffy. My nose running. I am either ravenously hungry but unable to eat much because of a sore throat, or my throat doesn’t hurt but I’ve lost any semblance of hunger. It’s just a cold! But it’s a cold that’s kicking my ass. I should have gone to practice on Tuesday, but didn’t. Shooting while unable to breathe isn’t fun. I should have gone to practice today. But I’m curled up in bed, home from work early, my voice completely gone.

I can hear the voice in my head. It’s a constant low shout now. “You won’t get better if you just lay here. Shouldn’t you be training? Your scores at Nationals were nothing to write home about. Are you going to let a little cold keep you from shooting?”

Were this a tournament I’d be on the line, sniffles and all. But it’s not. Training is a marathon. A long, never ending marathon. But to perform, to focus, to train, your body has to be functioning pretty well. Mine right now is suboptimal. And so all that energy that would go into shooting is going into getting better instead. Which means rest. Hydration. Oranges. Decent food. More rest.

When you have a chronic illness, any other illness gets a little magnified. The cold will make you feel worse than it might others. But it also has the ability to trigger a flare up of the chronic condition. So my goal with all this rest is to make sure the Fibromyalgia doesn’t flare up in addition to the annoying, crappy cold. Because that’s a train wreck I’d like to avoid. I can’t not go to work, so instead I cut the extracurricular stuff. Which means shooting. Until I can shoot without the risk that it will land me in bed for a week.

Prevention is a bigger priority when you have a chronic condition. Injury prevention, sure. But also illness prevention. It’s more important to take time to recover from even the smallest illnesses so they don’t blow up into something bigger.

So to the voices in my head, no. I shouldn’t be shooting. I should be getting well so that I can shoot.

2. No camo or blue denim (jeans) may be worn at target events. Accessories such as trim on shirts, caps, quivers, armguards, footwear, etc., are permitted to be camo. At field events, denim may be worn but camo may not be worn.

The 2016 World Archery Indoor Championships are happening now, in Ankara Turkey. The United States has sent a good field. But perhaps, not all of our competitors were as well informed as they could have been. BowJunky posted a video of a US Compound competitor having to spray paint his bow because he had shown up in Turkey with a camouflage colored bow. BowJunky serves mostly the ASA crowd, and there was an almost immediate riot. As if, somehow, we were being discriminated against, victimized even, because World Archery wouldn’t let the poor man shoot his camo colored bow. There were screams of discrimination against hunters, or rules being enforced inconsistently. But what they didn’t realize was, the rules in Vegas, put on by the NFAA with a small World Archer event on the side, are different than the rules for a World Archery event (if you participated in the Indoor Archery World Cup in Las Vegas, you would have had to follow the same rules, but if you participated only in the Vegas Shootout, you would have been under NFAA rules, which are slightly different). Our American 3D competitors were up in arms and hurling insults about how World Archery is stupid, that the rule is stupid, that there’s no reason they shouldn’t be allowed to wield their camo bows across the globe if they want to…

Except there is a reason. Crystal Gauvin, who went directly to World Archery officials to ask for the reasoning behind the no camouflage rule, eloquently relayed their reasoning in a Facebook post that I hope everyone will read. Twice.

I feel the need to address the WA camo rule. Many of you, particularly in the US, are very against the rule and think it is anti US or anti hunting. I can honestly say I was right there with you until the reasoning behind the rule was explained to me.

I want you to stop for a moment and take off your US bias hat and think for a minute what camo can bring to mind in other countries in the world. For many around the globe, camo makes them think of genocide, children soldiers, …and war, as it is worn by dictators, military generals and some truly truly evil people who do terrible things.

I know I’ve been lucky in life to never witness any of those things, nor have I ever had to fear me or my family would be subjected to these atrocities. I for one would NEVER want to be the cause of reminding someone of these crimes, causing them fear or panic. For this reason, I fully support the no camo rule, as I hope you do to

I was appalled by the hue and cry of victimization that rose up on the Bow Junky Facebook post. That somehow these archers felt their gods-given rights were being infringed upon because they couldn’t shoot a camouflage colored bow at a very specific, top level target competition. That they somehow felt impotently spewing hatred at World Archery on Facebook would accomplish ..well.. anything.

It is the personal responsibility of each archer to understand ALL of the rules of the tournament they plan to complete in well before they show up on tournament grounds. Especially if that tournament involves using a passport and flying halfway across the globe.

It is the responsibility of each archer competing in a World Archery competition to understand that, literally, their world just got bigger. They are not limited to the US culture, customs, and symbolism anymore. And since World Archery must represent a multitude of nations and demonstrate respect towards each culture, they will err on the side of being conservative in matters of dress and equipment.

It is the responsibility of each archer competing in a World Archery competition to understand that this is the governing body that works with the International Olympic Committee to present archery to the world every 4 years in the Olympic Summer Games, and therefor World Archery standards may mirror standards set by the IOC. By necessity, they have to.

It is the responsibility of each archer to understand that there is a fundamental divide between 3-D (ASA) archery, and FITA / Olympic / WA archery. Compound archers desperately want to be able to represent their countries in the Olympic games. But the only way that’s going to happen is if compound archers follow all the rules of the World Archery governing body until such time as World Archery and the IOC can hash out what it looks like to host a compound competition at the Olympic Games. Target archery is different. You can disparage it if you like. One of the members of my team, who shoots exclusively ASA, calls it “country club archery”. You can say that 3-D is harder, or more realistic, or whatever. And maybe, one day, 3-D archery will be an Olympic sport too. But until that time it is important to understand that the IOC and World Archery feel there is a tradition to uphold. Especially with sports fighting over spots, and some very deserving sports losing their place in the Olympic Games, it is supremely important that World Archery present a professional face to the world, and its archers do the same.

There is an uproar that World Archery may be trying to draw a line of separation between hunting and target archery by not allowing camo bows on the line at WA events. I think that logic is pretty faulty, to be honest with you. Because World Archery doesn’t care one whit if its target archers go bow hunting on the weekend (where legal). I think the people drawing the line are the ones who immediately scream they’re being victimized by World Archery because they aren’t allowed to bring their camouflage bow onto the line of a World Archery event. And they do it every time they scream and gnash their teeth and demand that they get their own way (I’m speaking mostly of US citizens here) without respect to the fact that World Archery is a global association with global concerns.

It makes me sad, really, that we can get into such a screaming match over… the color of our equipment.

It makes me sad that people think it isn’t important to read and pay attention to the rules of the international governing body of my sport, especially when they compete at an international level. I’d give a lot to be able to compete at that level. If it took saving my pennies and begging and scraping to get a non-camo bow together to do it, I’d do it in a heart beat. Because I consider representing my country on an international stage to be a privilege. To be *that good*. That’s my dream. It’s why I drag my tired ass to the range every day I can. It’s why I give up time with my family, and have given up anything that resembles a social life. I think we forget that representing our country on an international stage is an honor. And that in doing so we should act honorably. Which perhaps means gaining a complete understanding of the rules of the game before we show up, and not making a fuss if we made a mistake, but owning our mistake gracefully and moving on.

]]>https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/03/03/the-most-controversial-word-in-archery/feed/0thatgirlkestrelAPPtitune Takes the Mystery Out of Tuninghttps://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/apptitune-takes-the-mystery-out-of-tuning/
https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/apptitune-takes-the-mystery-out-of-tuning/#respondTue, 26 Jan 2016 01:03:55 +0000http://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/?p=379Serious tuning, beyond just checking center shot, has been a pretty big mystery to me for the last year. Everybody seemed to know how to do it, except me. And while my state’s archery association provided some great information, it was still incomplete information. Especially when it came to stabilizers. I wanted a way to configure the best possible stabiliser configuration and I just couldn’t figure it out.

Months ago Stacy had recommended an app called APPtitune to me. But it cost $15.00, and I just wasn’t willing to shell out that much for an app at the time. But when I ran into stabiliser questions this week I revisited the app. I went to its website, realized it might have everything I was looking for and took the plunge. I am so glad I did!

Bow Tuning App on Apple and Android

Not only does it have in depth stabiliser weighting information all in one place, it walks you through step by step tuning almost every aspect of your bow. The only thing it didn’t really have was a really in-depth discussion on plunger tuning. But it does have a great way to start tuning your plunger without spending an entire day doing just that one thing. And it’s simple enough that even I can follow the steps.

There are Pro Tips in each section written by Jake Kaminski, silver medalist at the 2012 London Olympics. And these tips are not just fluff. They are, I feel, really useful pieces of advice written for the beginner wanting to get more serious and the intermediate archer who may be on their own when trying to find their bow.

All the mystical “stuff” was de-mystified and made, if not easy, then at least easy enough to follow that I can work on tuning my bow myself. And I’m not getting information piecemeal. I can read about how each system will affect the bow’s performance and the arrow characteristics (stiff or weak), see how they are interconnected and know how to go back and forth between them while getting an ever finer tune.

If you have a great grasp of bow dynamics, you probably don’t need this app. But if you don’t, and your tired of trying to sift through the internet to find esoteric information like how to figure out the optimal weighting of your stabilizer system, then pay the money for this app. It’s worth it!

]]>https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/apptitune-takes-the-mystery-out-of-tuning/feed/032.814481 -96.73158732.814481-96.731587wp-1453770037847.pngthatgirlkestrelwp-14537700378472nd Annual Texas Cuphttps://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/24/2nd-annual-texas-cup/
https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/24/2nd-annual-texas-cup/#respondMon, 25 Jan 2016 04:30:46 +0000http://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/?p=375Another weekend, another tournament. I don’t usually do tournaments back to back, but they just worked out that way this month. The Texas Cup was held in Plano, so I didn’t have to travel for if, which made doing both the Texas Cup and the Winter Games so close together much more possible. No time off work needed for either!

This was a full Star FITA, 120 arrows over two days, and a lot larger participation. The men’s senior recurve line was actually pretty large. And though the women’s senior recurve line was smaller, and we were all outnumbered by the compounds, it was great to see so many Olympic recurves and barebows all in one place!

The senior men's Olympic Recurve medalists and me!

I was a little concerned about how I would hold up, since I’ve only recently gone up in draw weight, but I think the proof that I can turn my limbs up is that I had no fatigue even at the end of the 2nd day. So they’ll get turned up on Tuesday.

Saturday morning I grouped really well. I was happy with how I was shooting, but would have liked to not be quite so left. I feel like I just got the “left” problem fixed, and now its back. So while I had nice fight groups the scores would have been better if I could have nudged them a little more center. I did shoot the most 10’s I’ve ever shot in a tournament, though!

Today I don’t feel I shot as well. The line felt more cramped. I didn’t feel like I could set up the way I wanted to. But I had a better score over all. I’m firmly in the averaging 20 points per end, which is such a huge jump for me!!

831/1200 was my final score. I walked away from my previous double FITA a full 200 points lower. And after a year of work I’m finally breaking past the 50% mark. I consistently shoot more than 50% of a perfect score.

All that aside. I learned a really important lesson. And that is…scores matter less than walking into your arrows. Yup. I walked straight into the nocks of my own arrows because I was talking to (and looking at) someone down the line as we walked down to score. I was that girl, the one who caused the entire line to be held because she needed a bandaid. I was going to continue on, but didn’t realize how bad it was bleeding. Ashley, who took first and was scoring with me, was over to the judges before I could even set my clip board down.

The buckle helped soothe my hurt pride a bit

Team Fulcrum had four people shooting the Texas Cup, and two of us placed. Dacota took first in senior men’s compound and I took 2nd in senior women’s recurve.

Team Fulcrum brings home some hardware

It was a great weekend! But I’m really looking forward to the next three weeks of practice and tuning.

]]>https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/24/2nd-annual-texas-cup/feed/032.814139 -96.73142032.814139-96.731420thatgirlkestrelwp-1453695478240wp-1453695701319wp-1453695919314From FanGirl to Team Girlhttps://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/22/from-fangirl-to-team-girl/
https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/22/from-fangirl-to-team-girl/#respondSat, 23 Jan 2016 02:26:25 +0000http://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/?p=368During the Texas Winter Games last weekend I had a really nice chat with Troy Albert from Fulcrum Archery. I knew he had started an archery team, but had assumed that his was focused only on compound shooters. It made me a little sad, his team seemed to have great cohesion and vision, but I understood that in pragmatic terms there is a wider audience for compound shooters and a deeper market. So it made sense that his team would be compound focused.

Boy was I wrong! I did ask him point blank if the Fulcrum Archery team was just for compound shooters. And he set me straight quickly. They wanted recurvists! Apparently we are just hard to find. True, you don’t see many of us at NFAA, IBO, or ASA tournaments. Be it barebow, traditional, or Olympic, but especially Olympic, recurvists are hard to find in large numbers unless you are at a National level FITA shoot. Even state level FITA shoots have a small number of recurvists compared to compound. Or maybe I just live in the wrong state. Anyway. Troy wanted us on his team, but we were never in the same place to talk. Until the Texas Winter Games, that is, when I blatantly walked up to him and basically asked him outright if his team was just for compounds.

We talked about his team and his goals for it. We talked about his business. And in the end our vision seemed to line up pretty well. I had long wanted, and had even tried to get off the ground via Urban Shooters, a competitive adult recurve team. But that small numbers thing made it hard. He already had a competitive team and a great vision for it, and wanted recurves to join. It gave him something, another venue where he could promote his business, and it gave me a prepaved path to promote a competitive team.

This week we exchanged a few emails, and on Thursday I became the first Oly on the Fulcrum Archery team. Thursday night was the first team practice. I was nervous. No really. I was nervous. I know heart only counts for so much. All those nerves translated directly into my shooting. So I didn’t shoot 50 meters with them. Impossible, really, because I have no sight settings for long distance because of going up in draw weight recently. I barely have sight settings for 18 meters. But I did enjoy the easy way everyone came in and just did their thing. They were either just working on shooting, or getting some specific stuff done for a tournament this weekend, or hanging out together. Everyone said hi, shook my hand, welcomed me on. They were really nice! I am a textbook introvert, so Troy had to literally drag me off the range to meet people. But it was a good night!

I think the Fulcrum team is split across several different tournaments this weekend. A few of us, including me, will be shooting the Texas Cup double FITA in Plano. Several more are headed to an ASA tournament in College Station. Who knows, maybe these guys will eventually get me out into the field archery world.

No, I don’t have to be on a team to shoot. But it makes a difference when other people are encouraging you to shoot and get better.

Training tonight at the range, working on the anchor point drill that I did with Tony on Sunday. I think it works.

]]>https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/girl-got-grouo/feed/032.814139 -96.73142032.814139-96.731420wp-1453259038415.jpgthatgirlkestrelwp-1453259038415Training with Tonyhttps://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/training-with-tony/
https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/training-with-tony/#respondTue, 19 Jan 2016 03:11:02 +0000http://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/?p=362Tony is one of the best coaches I know. He usually coaches kids. He only coaches people who are serious and willing to learn. And in the last six months or so he’s been so busy even his regular students don’t see him much. I hadn’t seen him at all.

I went to the range yesterday to sort myself out after the discombobulation of Saturday’s Winter Games. I hadn’t put in the performance I had hoped to. Not even close. And…Tony’s there. Like magic. I was not going to ask him for help. But he always asks me what I’m working on, and I always tell him the truth. When I explained to him that my old anchor point was wrong and I didn’t know where the new one was yet he was like “those things don’t occur naturally, you have to force it”. And promptly took me to ” the wall ” and watched me shoot.

Then he put an 8 pound bow in my hand and proceeded to fix me. Some things were the same that he’d fixed six months ago (elbow too close to the body). Some were problems I’d noticed more recently but hadn’t been able to fix (not getting completely into my back. Guess what, your torso is supposed to move!) And yes, he fixed the anchor point, too. And then started working on my release.

I have a huge mental block when it comes to release and follow through. I keep thinking that I should be frozen in place, not moving, after the shot goes off. So I refuse to allow my elbow to continue going around the imaginary circle. I freeze all the muscles instead. So that I have almost no follow through motion. I think we wound up spending more time on this than anything else, and he was literally re-mapping what the follow through is supposed to be in my brain. And we made progress! My performance journal is filled with all kinds of excited hand writing and exclamation marks!!

And he’ll let me send him video to look at, and help out when he has time. I feel like the last two weeks or so have been huge jumps for me in a lot of different areas of the sport. Things that I’m really excited about. Tony gave me enough to work on for probably the next six months. But I could already see and feel an improvement in my shooting. I felt like this was the first time I really understood exactly what each movement he asked for was supposed to do and feel like. Before, I’m sure most of what he said just went right over my head. But last night I got it. I really got it. I’m looking forward to shooting tomorrow night and training each movement a little more.

I have to

]]>https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/training-with-tony/feed/032.814180 -96.73146232.814180-96.731462wp-1453172979513.jpgthatgirlkestrelwp-1453172979513Texas Winter Gameshttps://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/17/texas-winter-games-2/
https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/17/texas-winter-games-2/#respondMon, 18 Jan 2016 03:53:39 +0000http://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/?p=359I am so freaking proud of J!!! He went to the Texas Winter Games tournament with me on Saturday and shot. Not only did he shoot, but he came in first in his division. I’m more proud of him for going than anything else.

Texas Winter Games was interesting for both of us. It was a new range, not a FITA, and not in any way associated with USA Archery. We were on a lot of unfamiliar terrain.

The range in McKinney took us both by surprise. I was told it was a small tournament and not many people showed up for it. When we arrived, however, the range was packed! That’s a good thing, until there’s literally so little room that it took a concerted effort to not trip over each others bows. I was told we could, and should plan on, registering on site. But I’m pretty sure we gave the lady running registration a heart attack when we both showed up to shoot and weren’t on the registration list. Apparently everyone BUT us had pre-registered online and bale assignments were set. Oh. To her credit, Mrs. Witt found us both places on the line and was very gracious to us. She was less gracious about the person who had misinformed us. One last surprise awaited us at McKinney. Russell! Russell worked at the Dallas range on Walnut Hill before it closed, and we were pretty close acquaintances. I hadn’t seen him since shortly after that range closed, so it was a wonderful surprise to see him at McKinney. He came to the rescue as backup judge and timer manager.

Speaking of the timer, I did not realize I had become so clock dependent until we didn’t have one at this tournament. There was a timer running, we just couldn’t see it. I’m used to looking up after my 2nd arrow to see how much time is left on the clock. But there was no clock. I didn’t have a clue how much time I had. I started rushing. Badly. Really badly. J was having the same problem, so we started calling time for each other. Whichever of us wasn’t shooting would call out time quietly for the other at the 30 second marks. Several people thanked us afterwards for doing that. I just wish we had started sooner. Those first three ends or so of rushing and stressing took their toll on both of us. Thankfully he was on A line and I was on B line, so we could call time and spot for each other.

Probably the other biggest factor for me at McKinney is the line of plywood dropped from the ceiling about a third of the way down the range. I typically let my eye follow my bow up during set up. Then my eye goes to the target during draw and I can watch my sight come to settle on the target. Except my eye would hit this line of plywood, my brain would immediately seize in a “too close don’t shoot!” momentary panic and I would have to almost force myself to look down at the target and draw. Never got all the way into my back, never got into true holding, never got my elbow behind the arrow for something like the first half of the tournament. We were only doing 10 ends, so 5 ends of brain freeze was 5 too many. I don’t know why the plywood is there, and it was only afterwards, talking to another shooter, that they mentioned the plywood was messing with my depth perception.

But despite the challenges, we finished the tournament! I got to shoot next the cutest darned barebow shooter I have ever laid eyes on. She couldn’t have been more than 9 or 10, with long red hair and a teal Bubba Bateman quiver. The rubber bands on her braces matched her quiver!! I spent some time talking to the girl who took first place in our division. Turns out she was supposed to try out for the Puerto Rican Olympic team but had to have surgery instead. She was immensely nice and knowledgeable and just fun to be around. And I spent some time talking to Troy Albert, the owner of Fulcrum Archery. More on that conversation later.

Then it was awards time. My scores weren’t great. J was disappointed in his scores. Neither of us thought we’d win anything.

Surprise! J came in first in his division! And I came in second in mine! Turns out we are now eligible to shoot in the State Games of America in 2017. I think. More pics to come later, after I grab them off my phone.

2nd place Texas Winter Games

]]>https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/17/texas-winter-games-2/feed/0wp-1453088845566.jpgthatgirlkestrelwp-1453088845566Coaching J, Episode 2https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/coaching-j-episode-2/
https://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/coaching-j-episode-2/#respondMon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000http://thearcherisagirl.wordpress.com/?p=348Last week, there was a brief moment where I was afraid J was going over to the dark side. The side of “I only want to do what’s fun! Does it matter if that messes up my ability to do the fun thing correctly?” And by correctly I don’t mean my way or the highway, but just in a way that won’t lead to injury after a while.

I’m no Obi-wan. I couldn’t just cut him down with my lightsaber of still growing Archery knowledge and leave him behind. I would still support him in his sport, still want to shoot on the line with him. I would just always be inwardly cringing that one day, after the fun, he’d be in the doctor’s office needing steroid shots, or have to put his bow back down to have shoulder or back surgery. Or that it would wind up being too uncomfortable or painful and he’d make the choice to give up archery.

I didn’t want any of that to happen. I’d just had a friend miss his chance of shooting at the Olympic Trials this summer due to tendonitis in his shoulder. And that drove home for me how stupidly important good form is. Not just consistent form, but form that does not make us more injury prone than participating in an extremely repetitive movement sport already makes us. We are like baseball pitchers, except we pitch only a fast ball, and only at the exact same speed and in the same way every time. Good form is the only thing saving us from Tommy John (or in our case, rotator cuff) surgery.

I’m lucky, because where my own concerns blinded me into not being able to communicate well with J that one night (my active listening skills were turned off), the Jedi council came in behind me and made my point for me.

And Sunday we resumed right where we left off. I thought long and hard about making a resolution to just be supportive and not criticize. But I knew that if I was being a bone head about something, I’d want other archers to call me on it even if I couldn’t immediately heed their advice. So I trashed that resolution. I decided to be me.

And we went back to feet. I’d already learned from training horses that every move is a process of refinement. So Sunday we refined J’s stance a bit more to give him the most stable base possible.

J's stance, version 2

This is an improvement over the week before, when his back foot would wind up more parallel to the line and his front foot a tad more open to the target, which I think contributed to his hips twisting during draw. They at least made it easier for him to twist, and since we don’t want the hips to move, making it harder for them to do so was on the top of the agenda.

But really, what causes us to twist when we draw the bow in the first place? Not having the back muscles to draw with just the back
Or not knowing how to draw. But J knew how to draw.

10 months off is a long time to keep the back muscles in shape, though. They had a) forgotten how to do their job without being told and b) had lost the strength to do their job for an extended period of time.

We stood on the line together. Every time his hips would twist I would say “no” and he would let down. Every time he was still he got the shot off.

For now, he has to think about things that used to come naturally, like grounding and “tucking the tail feathers”. But it will come naturally again with time and practice.

I’m sure there will be more times where I worry about the dark side, and where we disagree. But I’m sure we’ll make it past those, too.